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In this video, we're going to follow the Pope and see all the security measures that are in place to protect one of the most important figures in the world. Mr. Prefect of Police, what measures are being put in place during these 48 hours? There is an extremely comprehensive system in place for the arrival of the plane, securing the road network that runs from Lly to Paris and so there are two lanes which are entirely sacrificed in quotation marks so that we can organize a totally secure transport of the saint to the Elysée where he is received by the head of state. It is September 25, 2026. It is 9:07 AM. In case you didn't recognize it, we're at the Élysée Palace and Pope
Leo X is arriving in France for a 4-day visit. The first visit of a pope to Paris since Benedict XVI in 2008. In order to be able to film at the Élysée Palace, I requested accreditation. I contacted the Paris police headquarters who integrated me into the security system for 48 hours The churchmen who have just passed by are bishops or archbishops. That means the Pope should arrive soon. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecnu has just taken office. The Pope has arrived in France. All the church bells in France are ringing to celebrate his arrival. From the moment he is in Paris, obviously there are troops underground, all the transport,
troops on the surface, but also troops on the roof, plus the armies and an anti-aircraft operation, what we call the lad which ensures airtightness. And so here, it is a totally complete system with police officers, with gendarmes, with soldiers, with firefighters, civil security associations which make it possible to come to the aid of any person who follows, accompanies or comes to see the Pope for the Plea. Whoa! It is important to keep in mind that the Pope is not only a religious leader, he is also the sovereign of the Vatican City State We know it's the car with the Pope because there's the Vatican flag on it and especially we can see the license plate SCV1.
The Pope descends very slowly. He walks onto the red carpet, to the sound of drums, the President of the Republic Brigitte Macron steps forward and greets everyone. A few words, a few handshakes. Right now, where I'm filming you, this is the place to be. All eyes in the world are watching this moment. How long have you been working on this security device Well, that's two months. From the moment we knew that the super was coming, we started all the logistics because you need cars, you need equipment, a certain number of
staff, you have to reconnoiter the sites with the organizer because in fact we are not organizers, it is a headquarters that has organized the event and we ensure the safety of the routes, of the sites, of the places so that everything goes smoothly and in total safety. Let's move on. We have an appointment for the Pope's speech. Here we go, I'm switching to vlog mode. I was the only one who managed to get in, unfortunately not my cameraman. So this is the winter garden. You can recognize it by the roof which is right here and the door through which the president and the pope will enter shortly. They will enter through the garden which is right there.
They're going to be sitting right here. The Pope is right here. The function room. Gorgeous. great honor and a great joy for the French Republic to welcome you to our soil today. Many of our compatriots feel a sense of hope with your visit to France It is a great joy for me to be among you today. I also salute all those who live in this country, a country of people in which the diversity of origins contributes to enlivening democratic life and enriching the art of living together. I would like to reiterate that a truly free society does not impose uniformity but protects the diversity of conscience by preventing authoritarian excesses, by promoting an ethical dialogue that enriches the social fabric. May God bless France and all the French people.
Standovation. It's exceptional to have such close-up images of the Pope. Everyone around him, it's impressive. We can see all the security guards around. There's something for the president, there's something for the pope. I don't think he's going to shake everyone's hand, though. That's quite a lot of people, though. Some of them are in tears. They will greet the firefighters right behind me who extinguished the Notre Dame fire. Also, a salute to the craftsmen who contributed to repairing Notre Dame. Pope Lyon X is in France from Friday 25 to Monday 28 September 2026 for a 4-day official visit. First in Paris because of the presence of political power, international institutions and the possibility of meeting a large number of faithful
then heavy as a place of pilgrimage in France. And finally, his visit, which was as much spiritual as diplomatic, had three main objectives: to meet the French and Catholics, to defend the dignity of vulnerable people, and to carry a message of peace and European unity. With the current climate of tension, and all the conflicts in the world, his visit can only do good. The game is over. Now, we have an appointment at the police headquarters for the next step. It is now 4:30 PM. We are right next to the police headquarters where the Pope will be passing right here in the Popemobile on his way to Notre-Dame de Paris, which is just across the street. That is where the Pope will come to officiate for the VPR.
It's a prayer service that takes place at 5pm. Here, we are on the island of the city. Everything is blocked. It took a lot of accreditation to get in and be here. It's really exclusive. OK, so here come the motorcycles. The Pope is approaching, he's not far away. How many men and women are mobilized to ensure the Pope's security during these 48 hours? 14,500 men and women, police officers, gendarmes, rescue workers, military personnel during the first day and approximately 12,500 in the second. Right behind me, there's the Pope arriving on the Popemobile. Look! Whoa! Amazing! Can you hear the ringing bells?
This is the end of the VPRs. The bishops are arriving. They will be transported in those black buses that are just to my left, heading towards the Stade de France to keep vigil over her. We're in our motorcycle gear, ready to escort them. Let's go People will think it's the dad who's disappointed. What are the duties and role of the police prefect? First of all, he is the conductor, because in fact, the police prefecture, if there is police, there is not only police officers. There are also many administrative departments that have made it possible to issue prefectural orders, for example to close establishments, to prohibit parking, to remove cars. And so, there is a whole preparation, first administrative, then logistical, then police,
with gendarmes obviously, and also military personnel to ensure that everything is coordinated, and then to prepare this obviously with my supervisory body, that is to say the Ministry of the Interior, which validates the plans that we propose or not. In terms of hierarchy, where does the police prefect roughly stand? President, Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Prefect of Police. So. Paris like this is magnificent. People are obeying the rules of the road there. We're going to have fun It's really interesting to see how he works and how you manage to retain traffic when you're on the Paris ring road and surrounded by people.
Are the bus driver police officers too, or not? They are used to making fast, personality-driven journeys like that. We arrive at the Stade de France right behind. Go ahead, go ahead and purify the traffic. Yeah. OK. There, we go straight in. Mission accomplished. Okay, we've just arrived at the Stade de France. They managed. Honestly, well done guys. Check. Honestly, you did a great job. There were a lot of people on the road. It wasn't easy at all. From the world.
Honestly, well done. What are the powers of the police prefect? They are varied, they are relatively unknown. The police prefect has administrative authority, a department for the protection of populations, meaning that we have veterinarians who will carry out analyses, for example, at a restaurant, and if the analyses are not good, then we close the establishment. We also have the capacity to issue prefectural orders to prohibit parking, access to certain places. Then we obviously have the police services, first intelligence to find out what is going to happen. Then, there is the criminal investigation department, which conducts investigations into major cases. Next, we have a DOPC. It is this very operational direction that
actually manages the flow with the CRS and the mobile gendarmes. And then we have the Despap, which is a directorate that manages all the police stations, with one part in these stations that manages the public highway and another part that deals with investigations, thefts, burglaries, and so it is a group of 43,000 agents who are extremely agile because they are extremely complementary. Oh, the ring road is faster this way. I will also request an escort when I arrive in Paris. It will be much simpler in reality. So the bishops are right behind, they are getting off the bus. We have a meeting on the roof of the Stade de France with the
snipers. We're going to secure the area. Of course we'll walk there, guys. Staircase on the roof. I need to walk around a lot. I have n't done them yet. I'll manage. Yeah, thanks Patte. How are you feeling? Perfect. The step will come soon. What is your mission here at the Stade de France? We are two pairs of elite shooters. We have a pair in place here, a pair on the other side and we are securing the inside of the stadium. Knowing that outside, we also have three other pairs securing the entire perimeter of the arrival area. And potentially here, if it were to degenerate outside, as has already happened, we can reinforce by going up the
stairs, we can see over and reinforce our teams that are on the ground. Is this an exceptional measure due to the PA avenue? Inside the binô stadium, it's standard. And after the bulk of the work, today was between UNESCO and the town hall. There, we scored 57 points high. That's huge. You've broken our record. The previous record was 39 for the Olympic Games. When you're up here on the roof of the Stade de France, what are you going to look at? What are you analyzing? We look at the public in general knowing that it has been filtered, so there is still a lower level of discussion and doubt than if it were outdoors with people who came without a filter.
We generally look at people, attitudes, and the boxes because the boxes can be places where people have come beforehand to place objects, weapons. OK. You hear 80,000 young people between 17 and 35 years old who come to celebrate their faith and wait for the Pope, it's huge. Tonight, we really realize the Pope's popularity and power over the French people. The Pope has just arrived, it's huge. People are like madmen. The courtyard and everything, it's impressive in real life. We applaud, we applaud the dad who just arrived. Game, you belong to the intervention brigade of the police headquarters. What type of mission are you required to carry out? We score approximately 300 points per event, each trip of the president, each
trip of the prime minister, of the interior minister of a foreign president, securing all the places they go to, the places where they sleep. We also specialize in climbing. We're going to take down all the protesters, all the suicidal people, things like that. For example, in the last 15 years, we have had to physically rescue 120 people, extract people from the roofs nearly 600. Here we go, the vigil has begun. The Pope has arrived safely. We're going to bed now and we'll see you tomorrow for mass. See you tomorrow.
It 's Saturday morning. The vigil ended yesterday around 10:30 pm with a magnificent fireworks display. It's the next day, so Saturday. I am going to show you all the security measures that are in place for the mass that the Pope will celebrate at 3 p.m. Between 600,000 and 1 million people are expected to attend this event. That's huge. The mass will take place on the Place de la Concorde and it will even go beyond, past the Arc de Triomon. That corresponds to 3.5 km of audience. I don't know if you realize, we're going to put in some images to illustrate because it's just crazy, it's huge, it's unprecedented.
Frédéric, what are your missions here? The first step is to detect the drone, then identify it to see if it is a friendly or enemy drone, and then neutralize it either by jamming or by a method of complete destruction. If I ask a question and I cannot answer it, feel free to tell me in top secret mode, no problem. So, how does it actually work? That is to say, if there is an enemy drone that enters the area, it falls, it falls. What's going on Well, it depends on the neutralization method used. We are commanded by the air force, the air force gives us the order to fire. Either we jam the drone, which stops it, or we have a drone that is getting closer and at that point we fire with other means and at that point the drone falls. But this is really a
last resort because there is the potential risk, of course, of having created a panic movement and so on. How do you shoot down a drone? It's what? a laser. The laser is the solution that was chosen by the air force. We use a different system because we are in a more confined environment in Paris with buildings and windows, so we cannot use lasers because there is a risk of the beam reflecting off a window and we could burn someone underneath. We use electromagnetic waves for our shots. What area are you able to protect? So today, with our equipment, we are able to pollute an area of several hundred meters.
We're almost at the Arc de Triomphe from here. We're really making a mess. And you can see the BRI snipers just to my left on the corner of the naval hotel. They are hidden, but Christophe, which entity within the police headquarters are you the director of ? Director of Innovation and Technology. What is your mission with the police headquarters here? It is to participate within the air and space force apparatus in the neutralization or jamming of drones that could occur in the most important area which is here which is the area of the podium with the Pope. Who might be tempted to threaten the Pope via a drone? Obviously for us the first threat is the terrorist threat, but it can also be an individual who has a drone in an apartment and takes it out
and we hadn't seen it. We are the only ones with the technology that allows us to jam all types of drones. How many things like that do you have in France There is only one. There is only one in France. OK. It will be 2 million. [__]. Okay, let's go. We're going to the area around the Place de la Concorde, where the mass will take place. Here, we are in an area that is reserved for buses. All buses bringing people to see mass must park within that perimeter.
Marie, are you okay? The shape? I'm doing very well, and you? Alright. Thank you for having us. You are there to act as an intermediary and liaison between the police headquarters and the associations. So we have the emergency response team behind us, civil protection and the French Red Cross. You're here for yourself, sorry, you're here to take care of yourself, don't worry. [laughs] Luckily there are YouTube channels, otherwise I wouldn't have had a career. What is the purpose of the assaults during an event of this magnitude? This is quite important, especially when you have between 600,000 and even 1 million people who are going to gather on the Champs-Élysées. The goal is to have emergency services that are as
close as possible to the event and as close as possible to the crowd. Between the Concorde and the Grande Armée, we will have 252 rescuers, which is really a large deployment, and the objective is to really let the firefighters take care of daily life, the Samu too, and the associations are there to take care of 100 % of the available resources. That way, we don't clog up the rest of Paris. I don't know if you can hear the noise at your place. The France Télévisions TV studio is above and there's the mass which is just to our left. We can see the flags of the Vatican. The French flag in question. So this is an evacuation route without any problems and so I will give instructions above that no
one else is allowed to enter except through the area. William, what is your role within the system? I am a police commissioner in charge of the Matignon sector, also in charge of supervising the sector on the gardens of the Elysée Palace which leads to the Concorde sector, no one else is allowed in except those with special needs and those who work who can enter. The idea is to have more traffic flowing into the Champs-Élysées. I have my system, I've put up the barriers at the banana stand. I removed the chevron. Yeah, very good. Alright. Perfect.
A pair of people on each side with instructions and procedures to follow. Perfect. Nickel. Thank you so much. THANKS. Come on. So my role here is to ensure the complete sealing of the system in my sector, which is the Matignon sector. Ensure that all axes are protected by vehicles equipped with anti-ram devices. So, who protects the public from any intrusion by a vehicle? Are you learning about past terrorist attacks or not? Yes, yes, of course. Or secondly, the role is really to manage the large audiences who want to access what are called the boxes on the Champs-Élysées to ensure that everything goes smoothly, that people come without anything dangerous.
I imagine the bags are being searched. The bags are open, just like the coats. Security pat-downs can be carried out because we are within a perimeter which is called a SIL for the prevention of the fight against terrorism. For 48 hours all of Paris was blocked, the roads were closed, and so were the shops. Doesn't this bother the population too much? So that's the whole point precisely because, in fact, without compromising the quality of security and the safety of the cities and places , our challenge is to ensure that we do not disrupt the lives of the population more than necessary. Firstly, it is obviously the residents, but it is also obviously the shopkeepers.
Obviously, when we close them, he might experience frustrations. There are frustrations, there are annoyances which are often legitimate and then there are also the tourists who want to be able to have access to the Champsélysées, the Eiffel Tower and so on and who for a given period which we try to reduce as much as possible cannot access certain monuments, certain places. So for us this is a real challenge because in fact we need to be able to reconcile optimal security with minimal disruption to the population. Now, regarding security, we must not compromise and at the same time, we must not allow ourselves to be harmed by a population that would not be able to open their businesses or return home.
How long have you been working on this process? Since the beginning of summer. Then there is collaborative work being done with the Ministry of the Interior and the police prefecture to provide us with CRS officers, gendarmes, and to have significant human resources. So here we have a reception phase. Good morning. This is where you'll have the entrance for the various victims who will arrive. Numiv is involved in the entire emergency response system; if she needs to be evacuated to a hospital, then we follow her to the hospital.
We see the stretchers here, water bottles, stretchers that we call disaster stretchers. If we have a lot of victims and it wasn't specifically planned by the first aid station, you'll have two minimums of doctors and nurses. One of them is assigned to the PAMES unit and the other will be able to go on the mobile unit. We say whether it is necessary to intervene directly on the ground if the victim cannot be moved immediately to bring them back. So here you can see that it's mostly chairs, so people who are doing pretty well, so minor injuries, and if it gets worse we'll continue our intensity. So here for example we have a person who is being taken care of who probably needs to lie down a bit because she has fainted
because it is 2:27 pm and mass starts at 3 pm, around 3:15 pm the pope is coming back up What time did you arrive? It's 11:30 and is it very crowded or not? Yeah you're a bit of a war in the public eye. Take care of yourself. THANKS. So here we are on our way to a setup, just for the record, this is the grid around the Elysée. From the gate, there is the garden of the Elysée. Now we're going to the CCOS room. This is a room in which are representatives of the RATP, the SNCF, police officers, gendarmes, military personnel from the armed forces who coordinate the entire underground system in particular but also on the surface the buses so that the 700,000
people who were at mass can get back to the approximately 1,000 buses that took them to Paris and then get back to the SNCF stations and so on in order to be able to return home. And depending on that, we ask the operators to close, for example, a station or to put in an extra train in any case so that it goes much faster. It needs to be extremely fast, smooth and we need to be able, thanks to all the cameras, the 1200 cameras, to monitor that in fact there is no harm to people, that people are not being robbed, on the tracks and so on. This room was created for the GOs. These are patrol videos. As for the moment, we are not allowed to use artificial intelligence, we have staff who know perfectly the mapping of all
the cameras. If someone has their phone, chain, etc. stolen, they can immediately, thanks to their intelligence, guide the cameras and guide the 700 personnel who are permanently on Earth to catch the thief. A know-how, a knowledge that means that once you have had your phone and chain stolen, within 5 or 6 minutes we can recover both the chain and the phone and, above all, recover the stolen goods. All right. People who experience this should go see an agent. They are going to see an agent. Yeah, there are always music agents in train stations. The agents, a quick pass, a phone call here. We retrieve the videos, we get on the
video trail, we follow the person and we guide our police officers above ground or underground so we can catch them at the exit or OK, that's good to know. And now we come to the final phase. Here, we are dealing with patients who are going to be a little more seriously ill. Patients who would appear to be in an absolute emergency, in any case, seriously ill patients. It's not just discomfort, it's truly beyond that. It's not just discomfort, but serious discomfort. That's why you still have quite a few devices here. So, we're going to go beyond the competence of the Order of Malta rescuers you saw. And if that's still not enough, we'll refer the victim to a hospital.
Perfect. Well, let's keep our fingers crossed that you don't have too many problems either. That's not the goal, we agree. Clear. So there you have it, I put on the sunglasses to be as discreet as possible. I hope it works. That's where we really get closer to the audience. He's right next to me. You see, a small detail, the toilets. There are over 2500 toilet cubicles that have been installed by the diocese here for the event of the Pope's mass. That's crazy. And at the same time, for a million
people, I don't even know if that's enough, you see, it's enormous. Sorry, we wo n't be able to take any photos guys, I'm sorry. There it is, right in the center of the crater. Here we can see the screens that have been installed right here. Come on guys, better. It's good, it's good. No, no, no. Back up, back up, back up. No, I'm coming, I'm coming. It's good, it's good. I'm going to stay in the cabin, I'm going to hide. [laughs] What did I tell you? 2 minutes before.
Ah yes, who recognizes you? It's over. That's incredible. Oh, or is this the first time I've experienced something like this in real life because you can't really say anything to people there. C Rockstar. Whoa! Damn, people are crazy. This is the first time I've really experienced a moment like this where I was telling people at the end, even meanly, I was telling them no, there won't be any photos, but in fact it's pointless. There were 15,000 people around and so, well, the crowd attracts the crowd. That's impressive. Wow, phew! But it's okay, we've been saved for sure. Luckily, there's the security system we visited just before. Thanks guys.
[laughs] Again, we're talking about 600,000 to 1 million people. So naturally, you create zones to really arrange everything properly. How is it organized? How does it work? The Avenue des Champs-Élysées, therefore, on both sides of the south sidewalk and the north sidewalk, is organized into 14 zones which accommodate the public. We are in 10 zones on the Champs-Élysées on either side going up from the Concorde to the star. And then on the star, we have three zones, just above we have one or two zones on the avenue of the grand army. All areas from Concorde to star were areas where the public had to be equipped with a QR code to access them and
above are so-called general public areas where anyone could normally go. So the areas are barricaded on the road side to secure the Pope's descent in the Popemobile. He descended from the star to the Concorde in the central station in a mobile papal car. The barricade is manned both by mobile gendarmes providing security and by volunteers from the organization who are there to help us maintain the barricade. The DOPC and the police prefecture have put in place a security detail in uniform and in plain clothes for each area that welcomes the public to ensure that people can attend the event safely.
There, the mass began, so the Pope walked down the Champs-Élysées. The peculiarity here is that it's a rather unique setup because usually the public is really crowded on the sidewalks, whereas today we're on the roadway, which represents a significant public influx and is really much greater than usual. Is this a system that you regularly implement? Of course, it is requested by the air force and space service at least ten times a week. We did the July 14th, the G7 in Evian, the big friends of the Olympics like the opening ceremony or the closing at the Stade de France. Are you an expert on the subject?
We have it under control because we really have what I think is the most efficient system in order to protect you who are watching the video and who are also here for the mass. Are there top-secret things there or not? Absolutely not. This is our command post. We have a map that shows us the drone's detection, like a large radar. In fact, we have a large radar that we can see on the right, it's a solar radar. like the air force. Next, we carry out verification using cameras. Our cameras automatically orient themselves. On the left side, we have a normal camera and on the right side, we have a thermal camera which shows us, there, you are monitoring a drone, is that right? That 's a friendly drone. That's a police drone.
How many drones will be flying over the area Then there are the security forces' drones that do close-range surveillance. We hope not to have a drone, or not to have one at all. Drone, OK. OK, that works. So, as you can see, it's dense, right? You can see that there's more space there. We will try to get as close as possible to the place where the Pope is holding the ceremony. As an interesting side note, residents who have a view of the Place de la Concorde and access to the roof are not allowed to access it for safety reasons. If they go there, they will be removed by the police. That was the case in 2008 when Benedict X came
to Les Invalides and you see the people who are on their roof, they were then evicted. Good morning. We can say hello to you. How are you? From far away, from far away, from far away. Thank you 141 T. Ah, hello. So, no filtering. Well done. North. So, the instruction was passed to the GM, who repositioned himself according to your instructions. The same applies to the Alpha North point. That's going to show what a curious person that is. The exercise is interesting, but you like it
Hi. You see, I'm starting. Ah yeah, you can see the abs. It's good. Watch out. It's worth it, I love you. Keep doing what you're doing. Thank you, that's kind of you. That's adorable. Go ahead. Just be careful behind you, please. It's good. So. And I'm not the pop, guys. THANKS. Did it get a little hot or not? Ah, you were this close to actually breaking up. Yeah. OK. No, no, but it's interesting to know where the limit is, even for you. Yeah. After that, they're young people, it goes well. There's no problem.
Well Laurence, the Pope has finished his mass, he will have to leave and now it is absolutely essential that the 700,000 visitors and pilgrims who came to Paris to applaud the paper and follow the masses can leave peacefully for their homes. So we need to quickly reopen the metro stations so that he can connect to all the underground transport options, but also the buses of course. And so I am counting on you, along with the three operators IDFM, RATP and SNCF, to organize this in record time. Mr. President of the police, we will coordinate with the transporters and our teams on the ground and it will be done in advance.
Perfect. A small gift. It's a tradition here. The roundabout of the Holy Father's apostolic visit. Wow! That one is unique. Thank you so much. The last time was 18 years ago. I don't think there was any rounding. So this is the first one. Mission accomplished. That's it, the Pope is heading in the heavy direction. Your mission is over. The police prefect's mission ends when the plane has taken off. The 48 hours during which the Pope was here in Île-de-France went particularly well and it was a great success. Bravo
